Analysis: Nope, Same-Sex Marriage Doesn't Dissuade Straight People from Getting Married

If there was really any question, a fact checker has finally settled it for Nevadans: same-sex marriage does not deter different-sex couples from marrying.

A recent analysis by Fact Checker at the Reno Gazette-Journal looked into the marriage rate of countries abroad that have legalized same-sex marriage and compared the marriage rate over time. The findings show that same-sex marriage has not had any impact on the rate of different-sex marriages. So Nevada need not be worried about marriage equality recently coming to the state.

The ongoing decline in different-sex marriages is actually a trend started decades before same-sex marriage became an issue. Fact Checker looked at Eurostat data and compared marriage rates in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands over the decades. Although they have differing laws about marriage, all three countries had the same trend, according to Fact Checker, and showed declines in marriages since the 1970s.

In Germany (where a form of civil unions are legal), the marriage rate fell 49.5 percent. In the Netherlands (with full marriage equality), it fell 45.5 percent. And in Italy, a country that rejects same-sex marriages, the rate fell 54.5 percent. The same lack of pattern is found when looking at states in the U.S.

The Williams Institute, which regularly conducts this type of statistical analysis about LGBT issues, noted three actual studies that have identified the lack of any correlation between marriage rates. Here they are:

• "The Effect of Same-Sex Marriage Laws on Different-Sex Marriage: Evidence From the Netherlands," Demography, 2014

• "Same-Sex Marriage and Negative Externalities," Social Science Quarterly, 2009

• White Paper, Council on Contemporary Families, 2004

By the way, the United States now has 32 states where same-sex marriage is legal.